paul wood

Rene, Seen copies but never an original so I would suggest it is super rare. I handled A suite of Nicholas I, Officer's ADC, in silver-gilt, Moscow 1866 which realised realised £7,000. I would suggest a genuine suite of Alexander I would realise considerably more.

Paul

Don't like the look of it especially the number 13, suspect it is one of our Chinese Cottage Industry friends.

Paul

Radmilo,

Thank you so much for your help with the Takovo and the book, most helpful (hopefully it will post on this occasion).

Paul

Hello everybody.

I have just examined a most interesting piece of insignia of the Order of the Golden Grain (or Precious Crop depending on what mood you're in). Alas it was an out of curiosity enquiry and the owner was not prepared to let me scan it. It is an early type 1, 3rd Class with the suspension ring stamped Godet 920*. So presumably awarded to a German Official from Kiaochow no later than 1914. has any anyone else encountered other Godet made insignia, certainly it is the first I have ever seen and I would assume that any Godet made republican insignia are quite rare.

All the best,

Paul

Good evening from the Radisson in Addis. Arrived this morning from Riyadh for three nights - a three hour flight, no time difference, visa easily available at the airport for $20 - all very convenient. The only real hassle was getting a yellow fever jab in Riyadh to comply with Saudi re-entry regulations. Draught St. George's beer is most welcome after the delights of Riyadh homebrew! Tomorrow off on a medal hunt to Churchill Road and I am confining my purchases, if any, to post Selassie items with a maximum cost of $10 (??)per medal - I'll report back on whether my "rules" are complied with in due course. Advice from hotel and airport staff is be modest in your purchases - a kilo of of bling will attract attention, get reciepts, and pack in hold luggage. I'll keep you posted. Off for another St. George! Owain

Best of luck Owain. Hope you find some interesting inexpensive loot.

Paul

If they were awarded by the INA then there should be some certificate or paperwork with it. The Souval copies are fine and are popular with collectors but unless you have undisputed evidence that they are awarded pieces the buy as a souval copy and depending on the grade up to a few hundred dollars. As a collector of medals to Indians I often get he may have been awarded XY or Z, unless I can prove it I am only going to pay what the medal is worth and no premium.

Paul

I think someone has thought that the Blenheim angle makes it worth the earth. In the end it is a 4th class cross, nice thing but looks $2,000-3,000 max although we did have a 4th class George to an RAF man who took part in the Civil War Tsaritsyn Campaign which made nearly $10K mind you uncle Joe always gets th bucks in.

Paul

Never seen it before I thought most of the decorations of that period had pictures of that charming man Trujillo.

Paul

Actually it would make $7000 problem free at one of the Russian weeks sales in London (a bit of advertising there). I don't actually miss the lunacy of 2008 a market like that is positively unhealthy, mind you it is still very strong for the really good and rare stuff and funnily enough the jeton and badge marked is somewhat better than then.

Paul

Thank you again, this is obviously a book I need to purchase, can you give me the details of who to contact to purchase a copy.

Finally I wonder if you can help me with a query I have concerning the Takovo when was the monogram of Michael III replaced by that of Milan IV?

Many thanks in advance.

Paul

Nothing like it would have made in the heady days of 2008

Paul

Paja, thank you so much for the table of St Sava makers,

Paul

British award of Russian decorations are quite fun. There were a lot of army awarded for Gallipoli and the Naval boys were showered with awards for Jutland. There were also interesting and very sort after awards for the Naval Armoured Car Division in Russia. All of these can be traced on the London Gazette, with the exception of naval other ranks which are available on admiralty records (officers were gazetted). When we get to the Allied Intervention then the fun really begins (they were not gazetted). Roy Brough has listed many of the awards from various sources but the rolls are far from complete and the Naval rolll is virtually non existent (many of the recipients were awarded the decoration but never received it and just wore the ribbon, so I have seen an another rank who was awarded the meal for Zeal on Anne ribbon actually wearing an Order of St Anne (thats the nearest he could find in his local pawn shop).

All in all hours of fun for all of us who nothing better to do (or keeps them away from a nagging wife).

All the best,

Paul

He would have been at some stage with the 2nd King Edwards Horse reserve who were stationed in Ireland, hopefully one of our regular Hibernians will be able to give more detail as to what they were up to.

Paul

Given the wear to the medal almost certainly a replacement suspension. As a collector of medals to Indians I surprisingly own a WWI pair with bilingual victory to a bearer Pappa of the Indian Bearer Corps (poor devil spent most of his time in the sick bay).

Paul

Peron,

Thanks for the useful site.

Paul

Well it doesn't leave a nice taste (pigs would disagree as they prefer bad apples to fresh ones).

Paul

Demir, I am sorry to hear this. I hope there is a reason for non-payment other than the obvious. I like to think members of this forum are a straightforward bunch. The thought that there is a bad apple leaves a nasty taste in my mouth.

Paul

Hi Pieter,

It would be interesting to see a photo of the medal. Does it have any marking on the reverse ?

Are you sure that the medal you have is the original medal from 1930 ? Or was that just the date of the award ? I suspect that the medal itself was not bestowed, only the certificate, then it would have been up to the recipient to purchase their medal. I would suppose that any medal could have been purchased later or in any case replaced.

Can you confirm the date of the photos which show the later type being worn ?

I would tend to have some faith in the Thai medal department, since they are the ones that have all the documentation and history I do have several Thai medals books from the past 50 years span, and I could take a look at if there is any change of info on that aspect (some time when I get a chance to get back to the books that is). I might also take another look at the information I have (i didn't translate it to compare all aspects, just had it read to me) - however, this is consistent with what I've heard from others.

My collection of Thai Order of the Crown and Thai Order of the White Elephant is about 200 pieces each (I collect by manufacturer and date), and I've handled probably another similar amount, and I've not really seen strong evidence of such really-early current-type pieces, unless they are similar to current pieces (manufacturer variation excepted). I"m not saying that it's not possible, but just that I would expect a little more evidence and examples.

My project for the coming year is to put together something on the different manufacturers and dates and other variations. Maybe that will highlight something.

Rgds,

Dave

1. Order of the Crown current type "Type 2" (early example) - 4th or 5th class

manufactured by Sampanaporn in 2496 (96) = 1953

2. Order of the Crown early type "Type 1" - 3rd class

3. Order of the White Elephant current type "Type 2" - 3rd class

manufactured by Thai Nakon in 2506 (1963)

4. Order of the White Elephant early type "Type 1" - 3rd class

Thanks Dave, confirmed my supicions, probaly a later upgrade

Paul

Proving he is talking from where the sun don't shine is sufficient

Paul

Dave or anyone,

I wonder if you can help me (slightly off-topic) I was giving a talk yesterday on foreign awards to British servicemen WW1 and asked members to bring along any related groups. I was shown one group which amongst other things contained a 2nd class set of the crown, type 2, similar but of better quality than that which is awarded now. He claimed that it had been awarded during the great war period (from award point of view ) up to 1921. When exactly was the type 2 first issued?

It will settle an argument and hopefuly silence a smug ba*****d

Paul

Fascinating... the most recent revision is actually by a law of 2 March 2011, which the Portuguese have kindly placed online - http://www.ordens.pr...cia.pt/?idc=163 (very nice for the likes of me!) - here the Ordem do Mérito Empresarial is to be awarded for services to agriculture, commerce & tourism or industry in 5 classes, distinguished by green (agriculture), blue (commerce & tourism) or red (industry) and by the wording on the circlet around the central badge,

Eeep, I can see an update to my site coming along, this is quite interesting and I haven't done much on Portugal yet!

The Agricutural and Industrial Orders were instituted at the same time and came under one blanket, the difference between the two was the Agricultural had green enamel. The first (1893) type are quite rare and bear the portrait of King Carlos. I think I have seen a low grade Industrial but a long time ago. I have seen fakes of the Grand Cross of that type made by an unsrupulous former high up member of the Portuguese mint who once challenged me to duel after I suggested that his pieces were not particularly genuine. If anyone has an image of the type 1 either industrial of agricultutral it would be nice if they could post it.

Paul

Thank you Paul for the information. Have you any idea where I can find it? (beside eBay)

Try either avers-info@mail.ru or http://avers-book.ru

All the best,

Paul

Very nice I tend to prefer the silver medal to the 'gold' as the gilding wears of rather quickly and they tend to look rather tired, mind you I prefer the Montenegrin piece, I feel Milosh is more life-like there, mind you after he killed the sultan he wasn't life-like for long

Paul

The Originals were made by Souval, who later used the dies to make replicas and concoct a few interesting variations, unless you have an award document backed piece it will be a later piece. If you had an orignal piece with an award document there would be people in India queueing to take off your hands.

Paul